U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, sponsor of legislation to overhaul the National Flood Insurance Program that came under severe criticism after Hurricane Sandy, says it’s finally time for federal lawmakers to act, especially has climate change is contributing to more severe storms and more flooding.

The flood insurance program serves about 227,000 New Jersey households.

"We need a system for managing flood risk that pushes our country towards resiliency and treats our people and the communities they live in fairly. But unfortunately, we’ve remained at an impasse for over a year now, unable to fix a program that we all know is badly broken.

The senator’s bill would extend the flood insurance program for six years while holding down increases in flood insurance premiums, allocating funds to protect properties against water damage rather than just paying claims, and changing procedures in response to problems that surfaced when Hurricane Sandy homeowners sought to be compensated for damages.

In addition, fees for private insurers who write policies would be reduced, homeowners would find it easier to appeal claims denials, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency would have more power to dismiss abusive contractors.

“I’ve never understood why we require homeowners to sit in harm’s way and wait for the next storm to come before we help them reduce their flood risk," Menendez said. “It makes no sense. Instead of looking to simply raise prices, I want to focus on reducing costs. I believe the best way out of this hole is to make proactive investments in resiliency and mitigation to reduce the damage in the first place.”

Menendez’s legislation has been bottled up in the Republican-controlled Senate, while House legislation that passed that chamber in November 2017 has no support among Senate Democrats. The House measure would have increased premiums for policyholders and allowed the same private insurance companies that administer the program for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to sell policies in competition with the government.